Student vanishes after going for jog

POLICE have been joined by concerned community members as they search for University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts, who was reported missing after she went out for an evening jog.

The 20-year-old student was last seen in the town of Brooklyn wearing gym shorts, a black sports bra and running shoes,Fox News reported.

"Everything's on the table, unfortunately," Poweshiek County Sheriff Thomas Kriegel told local TV station KCCI. "We're hoping that she's somewhere with a friend and she'll show up Monday or Tuesday and everything will get back to normal."

Ms Tibbetts was dog-sitting at a home before she went for a run. She hasn't been seen since.

"This is not like her at all," her aunt Kim Calderwood said. "She's a very responsible and conscientious young woman."

Ms Tibbetts' boyfriend, Dalton Jack, told ABC News she was dog-sitting with him and went for a run at around 10pm.

A Facebook page has been set up for missing student Mollie Tibbetts.

"She might have a FitBit on and she might have her cell phone, but obviously we've tried just calling her but it's either off or dead so it would go straight to voicemail," he said.

Investigators are now working with the university and others to get access to a laptop and online accounts belonging to the woman that may have an electronic footprint of her whereabouts, her cousin posted to a Facebook page set up to find the 20-year-old.

"It can be slow and frustrating, but it is our best hope of securing Mollie's location," Emily Heaston wrote.

Ms Heaston said that law enforcement will be repeating the neighbourhood canvas near Mollie's home, jogging and work routes.

"The entire community was taking part in the ground search over the last two days, so many neighbours were not at their homes at the time of the first neighbourhood canvas," she wrote. "The important part of ceasing the ground search is that those residents are home and available to speak with law enforcement."

The community is assisting in the search.

On Friday, search crews focused on the fields between Ms Tibbetts' house and where she was staying when she was last seen, according to local reports.

Crews also tried searching with helicopters, but low cloud cover prevented them from getting the aircraft up, a spokesperson for the Poweshiek County Sheriff's Office said.

The sheriff's office told the Des Moines Register no new information was available, but that the search continued Saturday.